Aucklanders urged to keep it tidy

You can't be the most liveable city in the world if you've got litter around the place. Photo / Supplied

Auckland Mayor Len Brown will spearhead a "keep our city tidy" campaign as alcohol-fuelled incidents reduce and the inner city becomes a safer place.

"I want Aucklanders to get behind my general focus of 'clean, tidy and proud'," he says.

The Mayoral Taskforce on Alcohol and Community Safety, set up in June to deal with drunkenness, vomiting and violence on inner city streets, has been hailed as a success. Liquor ban breaches and other anti-social behaviour has dropped by 50 per cent.

Brown is also heartened that the amount of graffiti marring greater Auckland has been reduced by 10.9 per cent, as disclosed in the annual Auckland Scorecard released in today's Herald.

The taskforce has been very effective in cleaning up drinking and drugs," says Brown. "The next step is general tidiness."

"I think Aucklanders will jump at the opportunity of being strongly focused on tidiness - with no litter or rubbish on the streets so that Auckland is renowned for being clean, tidy and proud.

"You can't be the most liveable city in the world if you've got litter around the place."

Auckland Council will also trial a pilot scheme in partnership with Auckland Co-Op taxis to help get people home safely from the CBD after a night on the tiles. It will operate at fixed times on specific nights, using prepaid swipe cards. Funding for the initial rollout of 10,000 cards has come from the Health Promotion Agency. The hospitality industry supports the scheme, which will be in place by Christmas.